Cade Martin is not a Southern photographer, but he was recently in Memphis and made this beautifully seen and truly splendid portrait of legendary Southern photographer William Eggleston.
Here's the story of the shot from PDN's PhotoServe:
"Martin describes the portrait session as a lucky encounter that almost didn’t happen.
"In a Tumblr post, Martin explains that he was in Eggleston’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, when he had some extra time to kill.
"He called Eggleston’s son and was invited to the Eggleston home to chat with the legendary photographer.
"The two had a long conversation in Eggelston’s bedroom, talking about the photographer’s past and the types of cameras he used throughout his career.
"Towards the end of the conversation, Martin convinced a reluctant Eggleston, now 77, to have his portrait taken.
“At first [Eggleston] said he would not go outside, and I got up and left for a bit,” Martin tells Photoserve.
“I went outside and took a few photos of a makeshift-setup I had created in the park [right across the street from his home].
"When I came back, [Eggleston had moved from his bed] and was playing the piano.
"He told me that the light was nice there, and that we would take the picture.” “It was nerve wracking,” Martin recalls.
“During the visit, I felt comfortable, but once I got behind the camera to take his portrait, I thought, ‘how am I going to pull this off?'”
But did he ever!